Stanford stops Coastal’s magical run in Sweet 16

The Coastal Carolina University men’s reigning Sun Belt Soccer Champion soccer season came to an end at the third round of the NCAA Championship with a 2-0 loss at Stanford.

It was a match which saw the Chants (14-7-1) outshoot the Cardinal 17-15 for the match, but could not find the back of the net during the 90 minutes of action.

After a scoreless first half, Tanner Beason opened the scoring by knocking in a penalty kick in the 50th minute after a foul was called against CCU in the box.

That penalty kick was really all Stanford (16-2-2) needed as they were able to score a goal with only 43 seconds left in the match on a counter break away with all of CCU’s players on the offensive end.

Of the 17 shots, Martin Melchor led the way with five and Louis Dargent had three. Frantzdy Pierrot and Romario Piggot added two shots each.

Linares-Ortiz finished the match with six saves while playing all 90 minutes in goal.

The first half ended with neither team being able to find the back of the net. CCU outshot the home-standing Cardinal 9-6 with Melchor leading the way with three shots and Pierrot having two.

Both Linares-Ortiz for CCU and Corti for Stanford finished the opening 45 minutes with two saves each.

The season saw the Chanticleers win its second Sun Belt regular and tournament championship in only its second season in the Sun Belt. It was the program’s 14th conference title and 14th conference tournament championship.

CCU also make its 15th NCAA Tournament appearance (eighth consecutive) and saw the Chants win two games in the Tournament making it to the third round of the championship, its first third round appearance since 2012.

CCU’s national ranking of eighth in the last poll is the highest ranking in program history and highest since being ranked 10th in 2003.

CCU had seven players named All-Sun Belt led by the Sun Belt Player of the Year Frantzdy Pierrot. Henrik Mueller was named Academic All-District and Head Coach Shaun Docking was named the Sun Belt Coach of the Year.